NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — An official says Cyprus air traffic controllers will walk off the job for four hours to protest stalled negotiations over an ongoing pay dispute.
Cyprus Air Traffic Controllers’ Union boss Giorgos Georgiou says Thursday’s work stoppage between 12 p.m to 4.00 p.m. local time is in response to what he says was the government’s unwillingness to address the union’s grievances over salary cuts.
Airport spokesman Adamos Aspris says some 20 flights to and from the island’s two international airports will be affected.
Air traffic controllers insist they should be exempt from austerity measures aimed at curtailing spending on the bloated public sector.
They say their salaries don’t burden the state budget because they come from levies airlines pay to use Cyprus-controlled airspace.
